“Thirty knots?” Dmitry shook his head and licked dry lips.

The proximity alarm began to sound again inside the Prusalka, and Dmitry quickly reached down to switch it off.

“Eight hundred feet; still coming up at speed.” Mironov sat transfixed. He felt fear, but also eager anticipation. He would see it soon. This was what he lived for.

Dmitry turned the u-shaped wheel and angled the submersible away, but even he must have known he had no hope of outrunning whatever was coming up. “Maybe another squid.” He nodded, as if trying to convince himself. “They are jet-propelled, and move fast if they want to… and can be that big, easy.”

Mironov read more figures from the sonar, and looked at the computer representation of the mass of the thing – it was no squid. “Now at four hundred feet out, three hundred, two-fifty, two hundred… wait, wait… it seems to be changing course.” Mironov couldn’t suppress a smile. “Moving away.”

“Good, good.” Dmitry’s smile split his face. “Maybe I will take your offer. Who else is ever going to believe I lived through this if you’re not around to tell them.”

Both men felt the Prusalka tilt in the water, and then yaw first to port and then to starboard.

“Dammit, it’s going around us – circling.” Mironov felt his heart sink. So close, he thought. He knew what was happening. Of course the thing hadn’t really changed course. Instead it was just taking a look at them. Most predators circle their prey before making a killing run.

“Where is it?” Dmitry’s words hissed from his mouth like steam.

“Still circling. Increasing speed now.” Mironov couldn’t help a feeling of excitement building in his gut. “Its circle is getting tighter.”

Dmitry reached forward to switch on all the external lights. He paused for a moment, and then included the powerful spot light.

“Good idea,” Mironov breathed. “Hopefully the corona of light will make us seem bigger – at least too big to eat or attack.”

The Russian billionaire sat back sharply. Out at the far reaches of the spot light, he saw something huge sail past – a gray-black torpedo shape – fast and impossibly powerful.

“Big fish,” Dmitry muttered. “Maybe a killer whale,” he said hopefully.

“No. This creature has a side-to-side tail motion, and whales are up and down. And we’re far too deep for those type of cetaceans.” Mironov’s gaze was riveted on the curved window. “I believe we are about to meet the true ruler of this world.”

Dmitry leaned forward, staring out front as the thing made another circuit. This time, any hope it was a whale was immediately dispelled. In the glare of the lights, the full shape of the thing was imprinted into their minds.